the sovereignty of God

 I was listening to Alistair Begg and he said that so often we say that we believe God is in control and will work everything out--but the problem is, we want and expect Him to work those things out the way we want, when we want.

So often, we quote Romans 8:28 almost as some sort of incantation that will take any bad thing in our life and turn it into something good. But I would like to propose an uncomfortable idea--that might be a misreading.

"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." (NKJV)

What if the main focus of that verse isn't actually the "work together for good to those who love God", but instead is the "according to His purpose"?

We talk about the sovereignty of God, but so many times I think we still try to put limits on what that means. When good things happen, we praise God and thank Him for His gifts. When we are faced with hard times, we pray and ask Him to use His power to work things out the way we want--we pray for healing of minds, bodies, or relationships, and when we get the result we wanted we acknowledge His power and providence, His sovereignty over all.

But what about when God doesn't heal? What about when we pray for the good thing, and we don't get what we expected? What about when we face hard times and struggles? What about when our circumstances don't fall in line with the picture we had in mind of everything working together for our good?

It is so easy to forget that God's ways are not my ways. It's easy to face hard times and wonder just where exactly God has gone, to question His sovereignty, His ability to control everything in creation...or at least, His desire to do so. We see things not working out the way we expected, whether on an individual level or on the world stage, and we start questioning God's control of His creation.

I'm not arguing against free-will, but there is an odd, hard to understand balance between free-will and God's control. We're told in Lamentations 3:37-38, "Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, when the Lord has not commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that woe and well-being proceed?" And in Isaiah 45:11-12, "So the Eternal One, who is the Holy One and Maker of Israel, says, 'Are you really going to question Me about what will happen to My children, or lecture Me about what I should do with the ones I made with My own hands? It is I who made the very ground on which you stand, I who shaped the human beings who walk around on it. I pulled the sky and the heavens taut with My own hands, and organized the army of stars that march across the night sky.'"

If we are acknowledging that God is sovereign and the One ultimately in control of everything that happens to His creation, we have to acknowledge that He's still in control  when bad things happen in our lives. He's still in control when we don't get the answer we wanted to the prayers that poured out through tears late at night. He's still in control when our dreams don't work out. He's still in control when we don't understand. He's still in control through all of it, and He's still working in the world to see His will fulfilled.

Sometimes, what's good for us in terms of eternity isn't what's good in the short term. Sometimes the answer to a prayer is no because it leads to a lesson we need to learn--about humility, or patience, or self-denial, or priorities. Sometimes, the wound is needed in order for healing to take place. And sometimes, the wound is needed so we will be reminded that God is our only source of comfort and power, and that His power is made perfect in our weakness.

If God is sovereign, we have to acknowledge that He is in control when things go the way we want them to, and maybe more importantly, that He is still in control when things don't.